Description
Our picks for the top wine regions of the world from some our favourite producers.
A trip through exceptional grower Champagne, Burgundy, Mosel Valley Riesling, Rioja, Amarone and finishing on a Late Bottle Vintage Port. Perfect wines for pairing with long lunches and cosy dinners with friends.
FRANCK PASCAL “FLUENCE” BRUT NATURE CHAMPAGNE: A stunningly soft and elegant wine with fresh up front citrus and stones fruits, some lovely creamy, biscuity notes and an exceptionally clean finish. Franck Pascal makes exceptional, low intervention, zero dosage, organic Champagnes. This is that rare treat that reached a little higher than the usual gift or celebration champagne and represents a truly beautiful wine with depth and complexity.
FONTAINE GOBY BOURGOGNE BLANC GRANDE RESERVE 2022: The Bourgogne Blanc Grande Reserve by Fontaine Goby captures the heart of Burgundy with every sip. This Chardonnay offers a layered profile, exuding fresh orchard fruits, like ripe apples and pears, balanced beautifully with hints of toasted almonds and a whisper of vanilla. The wine’s refined minerality is a true reflection of its Burgundian terroir, lending elegance and structure that promises to develop wonderfully with a bit of time in the glass. This Grande Reserve is crafted for those who seek out quality and depth in their Chardonnay, making it a sophisticated choice for gatherings, or an ideal gift for someone with a discerning palate.
CLEMENS BUSCH MOSEL RIESLING VOM ROTEN SCHIEFER 2022: Earthy and fruity with notes of peach, red apple, orange zest, cedar wood and a hint of cinnamon. A beautiful mix of elegant aromatics and red slate minerality. The majority of Clemens’s production is grown on the Pündericher Marienburg considered one of the best sites in the Mosel. It is a 25 hectare vineyard, that spans the hillside facing south/southwest opposite the village of Pünderich, it is so steep it needs to be accessed by boat!
LOPEZ DE HEREDIA RIOJA CRIANZA “CUBILLO” TINTO 2016: From a super vintage, this has the most charming nose, lots of sunshine and soft leather – cherries and floral notes with a very pleasant tobacco note. Cocoa, orange rind and sumac, with super balance, fine tannins and good length – plums, a little fig, dried mushroom and sous bois. Very good indeed! Lopez de Heredia brilliance as ever!
MARION AMARONE CORTE LAVEL 2020: Stefano Campbell and his wife Nicoletta, who head the Marion family estate, are known to produce wines featuring impeccable fruit quality and well-dosed acidity. This Amarone is no exception and offers a profile of ripe and dried cranberry, hauntingly dark and layered display of crushed stone, black cherry, lavender and dusty earth. It’s deeply textural, velvety, yet light on its feet, with penetrating dark fruits offset by zesty spiced orange and minerals, as fine tannins slowly saturate. It finishes structured with cheek-puckering tension, resonating on notes of red currant with hints of baker’s chocolate.
QUINTA DO NOVAL UNFILTERED LBV PORT 2018: A remarkable example of the Noval style. Treated exactly like a Vintage Port with only noble grape varieties from their own Quinta, trodden by foot and unfiltered.
Its main difference is that it is aged for four, sometimes five years in wooden vats instead of the two years typical of Vintage Ports. Definitely an LBV with a difference, with fine structured tannins, great freshness and purity of fruit.
